Filter tips

A quick tip, today. All about filters.

  • Yes you need them. When it starts raining, or in the snow, or in a sandstorm, you want your filter to be ruined, not your lens.
  • But they cause flare, so you do not need them on all the time. I never use my filters except in rain etc. That’s right –  normally, I use no filters.
  • And polarizing filter (“Circular Polarizers”) are great to darken the sky: so you need them. But do not leave them on. They cut the light by a couple of stops! Only put them on when using them, then remove. This is a very common error: I see it all the time.

Oh and do use your lens hoods all the time.

Here’s a polariser picture:

In other words, I slightly darkened the sky by using a polarizer. This brings back the scene to the impressive one that I felt I saw.

Have fun!

0 thoughts on “Filter tips

  1. If shooting at a different angle than 90 ° towards the sun (where the polarizer is most effective), does it still makes sense to use the filter (and lose 2 stops), or you can achieve a similar effect in PS or lightroom? Thanks..

    P.S. And assuming that there is no water to cut reflection from.

  2. Bogdan – I would say yes, it still makes sense. You can approximate the effect in LR (HSL, go to Luminance and drag down, but still, nothing beats a polariser. You cannot do much with it when you are exactly in line with the sun, but then taking it off and putting it back on for each shot is too much of a hassle… that’s why I kept it on at all times.

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